September 1998 marks the zenith and the decline of alternative medicine. I say zenith because it is the focus of the current New England Journal Of Medicine. But it marks the decline for the same reason. After years of increasing popularity, we are now witnessing the first major counter-attack against alternative medicine by the orthodox medical establishment. The New England Journal, September 17, 1998 features six articles with a common theme: alternative medicine is unscientific, unregulated, and dangerous. Herbal therapies in particular are singled out and the editors call for increased FDA regulation and revision of the 1994 DSHEA (Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act), which permits natural products companies to label and describe what their products actually do. In case you haven't noticed, products now carry suggestive names, such as "sleep," "brain," "immune," and etc. Up until 1994 this was illegal and products were seized by the FDA for making claims.
Nutrition Articles by Richard Kunin, MD
This section of our website lists a selection of nutrition related articles written in past years by Richard Kunin, MD, renowned nutrition pioneer and creator of the formulas for all Ola Loa products. Articles are presented in "blog" form, sequenced in alphabetical order. If you prefer to see a full listing of the article titles with links, use CLICK HERE.
IODINE IS ESSENTIAL FOR LIFE
Iodine is a halogen, related to bromine, chlorine and fluorine, all of which are essential for human life to exist. (There is some question about the essentiality of fluorine despite the benefits for teeth). The requirement for iodine ranges from 100 to 200 mcg daily, with individual variation due to age, urinary clearance, sex and diet. There is no mechanism for conservation of iodine by the kidneys so it must be ingested regularly to prevent deficiency. Goiter is prevented by a daily intake of about 75 mcg and the RDA is set at 150 mcg. The US diet averages 300 mcg so deficiency is said to be uncommon.
Too much of a good thing can be a bad thing. That seems to apply to foods as much as to other pleasures. By now most everyone seems to be convinced that too much fat is bad for cholesterol and heart attacks; and we've heard for years that excess sugar can cause a variety of problems, ranging from dental caries to diabetes and related diseases. Now we have convincing new evidence that too much protein can be even more devastating than fats and sugars!
In response to the recent opinions expressed in the editorial pages of the San Francisco Chronicle (Sunday, 8 July 2007), I would say that both authors left out some major issues that deserve additional comment. As a board-certified psychiatrist and participant in the Autism Research Institute Defeat Autism Now program, I have had sufficient experience to recognize the huge gaps in the discussion.
Perhaps you didn't know there is another war going on besides the one in the Middle East. This one is a public health war, a war against fat and cholesterol that has been going on for more than 30 years. As befits a major war, the American Heart Association has formed a Task Force on Cholesterol Issues. Together with the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute they recently distributed a report entitled "The Cholesterol Facts," The purpose of this report is to answer criticism from popular magazine writers and "a small group of physicians" who have questioned whether the 5 to 8 billion dollars expense attached to the National Cholesterol Education Program is a waste of time and money. I tend to side with those who believe cholesterol can wait.
When President Clinton addressed Congress regarding universal health coverage, he focused on selling points such as security, simplicity, savings, choice, quality and responsibility. These were among the key words that I remember from watching his masterful performance. I was especially attuned to his mention of the twin concepts, of unnecessary service and medical fraud. These concepts have become increasingly important reference points in the past decade as private and public health insurance plans have quickly replaced our previous fee for service and combination public hospital and medical charity system.
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A review of the book: Vaccination, Social Violence and Criminality by Harris Coulter. (N Atlantic Books, Berkeley CA 1990)
This book, on the relationship between vaccination and neurological illness, by the historian and homeopathic physician, Harris Coulter, is an expose and a hypothesis: vaccination causes learning disorders, including infantile autism, social violence and criminality. The author’s hypothesis is that there has been an explosive increase in developmental neurological injuries since 1960 and that this correlates with vaccination campaigns promoted by our Public Health Service.
Perhaps the most insidious distraction that throws a doctor off the diagnosis of vitamin B12 deficiency is the medical teaching that B12 is stored in the adult human liver in an amount sufficient for 5 to 10 years of total deprivation. Obviously not so. I have seen cases in which B12 reserves ran out in less than half that time. This is more likely nowadays when so many people have been avoiding red meat and liver in their diet for years on end. Vegetarian and, of course, fruitarian diets can induce severe B12 deficiency in susceptible people, i.e. those who may have a defect in B12 absorption. Such people are at severe risk of B12 deficiency if they go along with the crowd. Luckily, almost half of all Americans are taking multivitamin and B complex supplements containing B12 at least some of the time. On the other hand, there are still lots of folks who cling to the idealistic notion that they can get all their vitamins and minerals from a "balanced" diet.
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